The Vatican Museum history
The dramatic baroque style that characterized Counter-Reformation Rome was predominant in structures of the 17th century. Sculptors and architects, such as Gianlorenzo Bernini and Francesco Borromini, changed the face of Rome during this period. In the 18th century Rome enjoyed a period of relative quiet under papal rule. Structures built in a subdued rococo style in the early part of the century later gave way to neoclassic structures. In 1797 Napoleon Bonaparte took Rome and appropriated many art treasures. Ultimately, after the Congress of Vienna in 1815, Rome became papal again. Napoleon’s occupation of Italy, however, had stimulated a nationalist reaction, and in 1861 Italy was unified under the house of Savoy.
Because of Rome’s position as papal headquarters it had to be forcibly taken by the kingdom of Italy in 1870. The pope then made himself a “prisoner of the Vatican.”
